Living To 150 May Soon Be A Reality

The oldest man alive today is 115-years-old. But will Jiroemon Kimura be alive at the age of 150? Probably not, but Dr. Aubrey de Grey believes that the first person capable of living to 150 is already alive.

De Grey believes that advances in technology and medicine will soon enable people to live long past 100-years-old.

De Grey said: “I’ve always been fastidious in only saying that the first such person is PROBABLY alive today. I would estimate the chance at 90%, though that could fall as low as 70% if funding for the relevant research in the coming decade or two is not sharply increased.”

De Grey likened the situation to an old car, saying that if you take care of a car it will run for a very long time. The same is true with the human body.

De Grey said: “It’s always been a mystery to me why this isn’t totally obvious to everyone. Do we let cars fall apart when they get old? – yes in general, but not if we really want them not to – that’s why we have 50 year old VW Beetles driving around, and even vintage cars. It’s bizarre that people don’t see that the exact same thing is true of the machine we call the human body, just that that machine is a lot more complicated so the development of sufficiently comprehensive preventative maintenance is a lot more challenging.”

De Grey said that he has “no data” to confirm his prediction but that doesn’t mean that living to 150 isn’t possible.

A recent study in Science claims that an anti-aging found in red wine could help people to live to 150-years-old. Professor David Sinclair, from UNSW Medicine, said that there are more than 117 anti-aging drugs, which would also fight diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s, use an enzyme called SIRT1. The anti-aging drugs could be on the shelf in the next five years.

Sinclair said: “Ultimately, these drugs would treat one disease, but unlike drugs of today, they would prevent 20 others … In effect, they would slow ageing.”

Do you think living to 150 is possible? Is the first person to live to 150 already alive today?